Good morning to all, i have a friend who drives an octy similar to mine, 2004 octavia estate 1.6sr ambiente. He has developed a fault where an error message is displayed. The error message says "Brake Fault" it is then followed by either "workshop" or "Service Manual" (cant remember which). He has had this problem for about a year, but whenever it happened, he took it to the dealers and they would top up the fluid and then adjust the brakes they would be able to take more fluid. The problem has come back and the error is very recurrent, about every few seconds or so it comes up. Whether driving straight or cornering. The brakes function as normal. If anyone can help, this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Does the brake fluid need topping up regularly? If so, Car Mechanics 101 says that your friend has a hydraulic fluid leak in either the brake system or more likely the hydraulic clutch system, if the brakes themselves are fine. The reservoir for the 2 systems is common, but the clutch system takeoff is higher up the reservoir wall so it loses fluid first.

It needed topping up a few times in the past year, and i believe once this year. the car is an automatic

Ah well, no clutch system to leak then, but unless your friend is sore on brakes I'm pretty sure there's a brake fluid leak someplace.

thanks, the brakes are still working properly, just the error message coming up every few seconds is a bit bothering. i will advise him though. thanks. but what about the error message?

The other thing could be front pad wear, and don't assume that because you can see the 2 outer pads are, all 4 are ok. There's only a wear sensor on the LHF inner pad, and if that caliper's siezed it could throw a warning message because that pad has worn out and the other 3 are fine.

Hey. Thanks for a push in the right direction!